A high school dropout teenager with a baby deals with her troubled relationships and lack of prospects in a small New England town by starting a unique business that relies on her amateur artistic abilities and talent for feeling emotions. What she does with that business may just change her life, and the lives of everyone she knows...

Plot Keywords:

Single Mom | Teenage Mom | Young Mom | Neckline Tugging | Suggested Intercourse (Bed Sounds) | Wise Latino | Wise Janitor | Jokey Discussion of Rape | Older Lady Rubs Hand Up and Down Teenage Boy's Back | Rocking Chair | Motor Scooter | Photograph of a Missing Father | Mother's Fantasy Where a Baby Grows to Adulthood in a Montage Set to an Elliott Smith Song | Breasts Partially Visible From the Side Through a Loose Sleeve as a Teenage Mother Turns and Bends Down

User Comments:

I love her boyfriend in this Michael Cera is soooooo cute, I want a boyfriend just liek that like this awesome guy i can just hang out with and talk to all the time and he'll paint up my toenails and then we can talk about stripey socks :3 that would be sooooo cute I can buy him a sweater and make him a cake and do all the other sorts of things any 50 year old gay man would more

Awards:

MTV Movie Award for Funniest Kiss (2008)

IFC Awkward Teen Couple of the Year (2008)

The Royal Tenenbaum (Best Eliot Smith montage, 2008)

The Shrek-Pedro Award for Excellence in Pop Culture References (2008)

Cast

Zooey Deschanel

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Syracuse Cloyinger

Michael Cera

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Michael Sierra

Anjelica Houston

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Lilly Cloyinger

Luis Guzmán

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Mr. Advicerado

Sarah Polley

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Seattle "Jennifer" Cloyinger

Elias Koteas

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Gondry Cloyinger

The Jimandor Pam

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Scruffier Version of Itself

Fun Stuff

Trivia:

Branfton Kirbæ was best known for directing videos for The Arcade Fire, Of Montreal, Vampire Weekend, Panic at the Disco, Fleet Foxes, Wilco, and The Shins. He has also announced plans to adapt a series of GAP commercials he filmed in 2004 into a feature length movie for 2010.

The Jimandor Pam became enraged by the sight of surplus military jackets on a costume rack and broke free from its handlers during the filming of the moped montage. Residents of the neighborhood where filming was taking place were warned to stay in their houses and told that the Jimandor Pam might grow a soul patch and sideburns if threatened. Fortunately, there was a Goodwill nearby, and hipsterlife officials were able to bring it down in the ironic t-shirts department with minimal loss of life. This is why the Jimandor Pam can be seen wearing a "Science Explorers '88" shirt in the portion of the montage where Syracuse is painting smilies on her moped.

According to her blog, Titan Quest Dylan totally made her own handbag while visiting the set, it was a yellow and brown yarn one just like the bee hat Syracuse wears in the movie during the snowflakes scene and you can buy one for 39.99 from her website.

Explaining his motivations for making the picture, director Branfton Kirbæ said, "In the era of raunchy comedies by the likes of Judd Apatow, I thought somebody needed to make a movie that girls could feel like they 'get'."

Writer Titan Quest Dylan based the character of Syracuse on Her Own Life, which was the title of her fictionalized blog about all the people she had sex with while working as a stripper in Washington D.C. She has since moved on to a sex, romance, and fashion advice website called Titan Quest FAQ.

Branfton Kirbæ chose acoustic duo The Autumun Springers to record original music for the soundtrack because he felt their distinctive nursery-rhyme cadence was the sort of "juvenile bullshit" a teenage girl would appreciate.

Zooey Deschanel never officially signed on for the role of Syracuse. Everyone involved in the production took for granted that she had been cast; luckily, the actress showed up unprompted on the first day of shooting. "I just assumed I was in it," she later explained.

Jason Bateman was approached for the role of Gondry Perty, but was unavailable due to a filming commitment for the same movie on the alternate "Shadow Earth" behind the sun.

In an effort to be more ecologically friendly, the DVD release of Syracuse was pressed entirely on recycled mix CDs of Modest Mouse and a bunch of other shit that girls burned for you but you never listened to.

Is noted by film historians as the first movie in cinematic history to ironically quote its own dialog.

While the film enjoyed great acclaim at the Sundance festival, a notable standout was Dogme 95 filmmaker Harmony Korine, who criticized the film for being "too married to its fucking pretentious dead-end bullshit ripped-off aesthetic."

Zach Braff filed a suit against the production's wardrobe department for several cases of alleged shirt infringement.

Jollibee and Whataburger entered a high-profile product placement bidding war over which chain of restaurants the main characters would ironically love.

During the film's New York premiere, director Branfton Kirbæ's onstage Q&A session was interrupted when fellow filmmaker Wes Anderson took the stage, exclaimed the words "God help me for what I have wrought," doused himself in gasoline and burnt himself to death.

In order to lend the film a more "Indie" feel, Paramount Pictures temporarily changed its name to Hey Nice Shirt Productions for the benefit of the film's credit sequence.

Fearful of being typecast, actor Michael Cera was initially hesitant to- hahahaha no way I'm just fucking with you man.

This movie marks the point at which actor Luis Guzmán had, to date, appeared in exactly 95% of all movies.

The project, originally an Ashton Kutcher romantic comedy vehicle titled "Never Gonna Give You Up," was heavily retooled into a twee indie comedy after the film's producers witnessed a grown man at Peet's Coffee ordering something called a fucking Mochalatte Caramel Fredo.

Goofs:

Revealing Mistakes: The film was shot entirely on HDV using state-of-the-art cameras and solid-state digital storage, yet rolls of 16mm film shot through a warmth filter kept appearing in the SD card slot.

Crew or Equipment Visible: When the Jimandor Pam opens the pregnancy test kit the sheets of vintage Knight Rider puffy stickers used by handlers to reward a performance can be seen falling out of the box.

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Syracuse claims to chew Clove Gum because she enjoys the taste, but no one enjoys the taste of Clove Gum.

Factual Errors: When Syracuse draws a picture of what Michael's heart angel looks like it is not an anime character.

Revealing Mistakes: In a wide shot during the roller derby scene, Michael Cera is briefly visible with a look of less than complete earnestness.

Anachronisms: Although characters listen to music and use computers during the course of the film, no Apple logos are conspicuously displayed.

Revealing Mistakes: During the awkward public conversation with daughter about menstrual cycles scene, actor Elias Koteas' soul can be seen leaving his body.

Factual errors: Patrick Wolf's "Wind in the Wires" appears on the film's soundtrack despite being given a less-than-glowing review by Pitchfork Media.

Revealing Mistakes: During the grand opening party for Huggelujah, KFC containers and WalMart bags digitally removed from the background in post production are still visible in coverage shots.

Factual errors: Certain statements by female characters arouse very strong suspicions that screenwriter Titan Quest Dylan has never seen a vagina.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: While some viewers contend that sixteen frames are visible in which Syracuse is not wearing a hoodie, close inspection reveals that the hood is just tucked into the sweatshirt's neckhole.

Errors in Geography: The ending montage includes a shot of Syracuse riding past a sign that mistakenly reads "San Diego" when it should mistakenly read "Vancouver."

Quotes:

Syracuse Cloyinger: I love you so much, Michael.Michael Sierra: I know.Syracuse Cloyinger: Don't Han Solo me, I invented the Han Solo. Well, actually Han Solo invented it first, but then I popularized it through repetition.Michael Sierra: Thundercats.

Seattle "Jennifer" Cloyinger: You can't just go around hugging people and expect to make a living giving them construction paper hearts. Go to school. Get a real job.Syracuse Cloyinger: Real? Okay, "Jennifer." You don't even use your real name. Jennifer. How is anyone going to know it's you at the Daily Planet?Seattle "Jennifer" Cloyinger: That doesn't even make sense.Syracuse Cloyinger: Maybe I'm Insane in the Membrane. You know. Cyprus Hill.

Mr. Advicerado: (Answering phone) It's two in the morning. Whoever this is-Syracuse Cloyinger: Sorry, Mr. A.Mr. Advicerado: Syracuse?Syracuse Cloyinger: No, it's Fabio, and I can't believe it's not butter.Mr. Advicerado: That's really cute. You know I work 14 hour days cleaning up shit people smeared on the walls of the boy's shower so you go ahead and take your fucking time with your jokes. You got some references you want to lay out there? Sharpen your routine? I'm a Mexican, so my sleep is meaningless. Fuck you.

User Comments (Comment on this title)

203 out of 311 people found the following comment useful:best. movie. evar. 12 Jan 2009Author: beccamom90 from United States

to quote syracuse I LURVE this movie lol so many great lines me and my friends can talk for twenty minutes all in dialog from this movie. I also think it has a really important message about moms and teenagers and babies and stuff. I know her baby is really cute in this so I tried to hook up with this guy who looks sort of like michael her boyfriend in the movie but the baby we came out with looks more like a john and kate baby. I guess his aunt is chinese or something i dunno anyway i am teaching my baby lines from the movie and we already got all our own words its like our own secret language like "goodesque" if you do okay and I say for shizzle all the time and I'm going to start my own business and that way I can pay for his down syndrome and hell be my heart angel.

I set an email to titan quest and she said to keep it real so I will keep it real.

SA takes a look back at what our ancestors from the dawn of civilization clicked on THEIR computers!

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